Arts Hacker: If I can put on my grumpy Gen-X arts admin hat for a moment, I have to say that the older I get, the less I enjoy trying new apps. Instead, finding something that works and sticking with it holds a lot of value. Having said that, when I do run across something new that makes me want to switch, it’s really exciting.
5 comments:
This is something that I am going to have to look into. I currently use google calendar to manage my life but nothing specific for things like meetings. At this stage in my life, I less and less schedule meetings but end up attending more and more. I’m with the author on this, I hate trying new apps. I did a quick app search and it was just nuts with the amount of time planning apps that are available on the myriad of phone platforms. I grew up in a time where everyone talked to each other and we all wrote down in our dayplanners meetings and events. It was a simple time and it worked. I’ve also created post it calendars on my wall where each day was laid out and I would simply pull off that day from the wall and carry it with me as a way to remember what I needed to do that day. That didn’t last long. Post it notes are small. So yeah, Interesting article, I would like to see something were multiple apps were compared side by side.
I love that this article really walks you through Doodle with screenshots and smaller steps for each steps. Program/app reviews like this are always very nice as a first time user, and sometimes good reviews make me stick with the app because it is exhausting to learn and get used to a new app when it’s so hard to find a good guide to walk me through—in other words, I’m just lazy. That being said, Doodle is a really useful tool, and I love that Doodle gives you more nuanced options like ‘if need be’ on top of yes and no. Going back to the point of me being lazy, I understand that adapting to new programs gets harder and harder. I confess that I myself feel the same already. When I searched for a to-do list app, the number of available apps just overwhelmed and scared me off. But I also try to frequently remind myself that I need to be more diligent in searching for tools to improve my productivity. There are so many available and free options now and laziness is not a good enough excuse.
While I do love new scheduling software, I think there are too many general scheduling apps. Doodle is a great tool, like When2Meet and other scheduling sites, however they all seem to lack specificity and that je ne sais pas that make applications so beneficial to our industry. I am interested in either of two niches: a scheduler specifically targeted at education institutes or a scheduler for the theatre industry. While I know both can use general apps like Doodle, there are so many little tweaks that could really set a software apart. I think often about Production Pro and how they created something revolutionary in the industry from things that already existed, but just needed to be organized in such a way that it maximized efficacy for theatre workers. I think in our near future there will be a great opportunity for software engineers to create applications that are so effective that theatres will want to begin instituting them in larger companies. So many things are cost-prohibitive because of our non-profit financial structure, but I think if there is something that can really corner our market, there could definitely be interest in it.
It is great that this writer loved this website enough to take the time to create a guide for people who haven't used it before. However, it seems like this walk-through was more directed at people who struggle more with new technology, as I think that for most people I know Doodle tends to be pretty self-explanatory. For the most part I tend to use When2Meet for scheduling meetings, though this mostly just stems from the fact that most people in the School of Drama are very familiar with it. Doodle is definitely a cleaner tool and much nicer to look at than When2Meet, but I think if you're using it like the article described they both would get the job done. Personally the only time I've every really used Doodle was for scheduling Molly's advising meetings as well as meetings with my interp professor freshman year. Maybe next time I'll give it a try myself, as I really like the look of this app.
After reading this article I searched my email for “doodle” to see if I’d filled out a scheduling form from doodle before, and it turns out I have, so I guess the user interface for filling something out is intuitive enough that I didn’t even notice using it. In general I use when2meet for scheduling meetings, which works pretty well for just figuring out what time everyone is free (or as many people as possible are free) at the same time. That being said, you can’t sign up for individual time slots on when2meet, which you can with doodle. I typically use Sign Up Genius for time slot sign up type situations, but there is something to be said for having both types of information gathering in the same place. To me the thing that is really unique about this is the ability to specify which times are good for you and which times work but are not ideal, whereas with when2meet there is no way to put preferences. Recently we’ve been trying to find a good way to figure out who can unload lumber deliveries at what time, and I think the “can if needed” option would be very helpful for solving that.
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